Will it get a straight grade or not? The answers are not always consistentThe

The question of whether or a coin will get a straight grade from a third party grader is sometimes a subject for conjecture. It is a well-known fact that a piece can get one grade in a first submission and different grades in subsequent tries. Here are some 1796 half dimes that show just how hard it is to predict what a given piece will get.

This 1796 half dime has some bite marks on the obverse and reverse. I thought that that it might grade, but PCGS gave it the dreaded "body bag" at time before they starting giving "details grades."



This 1796 half dime also failed to make the grade at NGC. It also came back in a "body bag."



This piece, on the other hand, got a VF-30 despite the fact that it had been the victim of horrendous dip.



Finally there is this piece which far "original" when it comes to color and surfaces. PCGS gave this an EF-45.




Does anyone see any consistency here? I only know that the first two were only tried once. Might they have gotten a grade on a “good day?”

 

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I have seen far worse examples than your first two coins straight-graded by all the TPGs. It seems to me, and I am no expert, that the TPGs are more inconsistent with early copper and silver than with later issues. This is just rank speculation here but I can't help thinking that they are schizophrenic on early issues: On the one hand, they want to issue grades consistent with how they try to grade everything else. On the other hand, they don't want to body-bag every early coin for whatever reason(s). Can you tell us about when these coins received their TPG designations?

 

When were coins graded (or rather no graded).

About 12 years ago.

 

What I don't get is why, say, an R6 or 7 coin comes back straight graded almost always while an R1 of the same series does not. It would seem as though extreme rarities play a huge factor in grading. As to the question, I'd resubmit since the grading is little more flexible nowadays and neither appear that damaged or brutally cleaned.

 

Both are long gone. I have worked on a set of the early half dimes since the mid 1970s. Like many collectors have been lucky many times with the coins I have found. The 1796 half dime has been a major exception to that.

I ALWAYS buy the wrong 1796 half dime without fail. These pieces were two examples, and the three coins in my set are all disappointing to me. It’s just way it is with this date.